I'd be pleased with just a WiFi update to ac. Just a silent update. The mini is pretty powerful for a $1000 computer (with SSD and 16GB).
Historically, the Mac mini has basically been a headless entry-level (non-Retina) MacBook. Now that the non-Retina MacBook is gone, the likely base architecture would be that of the MacBook Air.
My guess is that the next-gen Mac mini would have Intel HD Graphics 5000 by default, with possibly a BTO option of the Iris Pro chip on the high-end Mac mini model, although a more likely option would be a quad-core CPU with bigger cache memory (and possibly a higher clock rate) with the same 5000 graphics. The Mac mini has never been a gamer's box even when it received discrete graphics.
Regardless of the specs, talk about the 4600 series doesn't make much sense (particularly since it seems like a backwards step from the 5000); it's another model line to support, and Apple has historically reduced the number of graphic architecture variants within a given product year for simplicity (and likely engineering efficiency).
Apple typically does not release new products after mid-November due to the U.S. holiday sales season, so if we don't see a new Mac mini in the next week or so, it is highly unlikely that we would see one until sometime in January 2014 at the earliest.
There are no current rumored reports of the Mac mini inventory drying up in channel reseller stores or overseas -- making a silent refresh next week less plausible -- so my gut feeling is that the refresh will wait until early next year, and Intel HD Graphics 5000 will be the featured graphics architecture.
I'm still waiting for a re-issue of a MacMini with the external power supply. Mine is old, old, old, but it still works extremely well and is SILENT, i.e., no noisy fan. Those of us who have a computer in a bedroom need silent units!
I actually can't believe how the highest end machine is competing with the lowest end. What sort of world are we living in??
If only they'd unstick the refresh elevator stuck between floors!
Next week i'm prying the doors to the elevator and getting off on the floor below! by the time the BTO is all finished and delivered it'll probably be closer to the end of November meaning that i'd have till about mid December to return it by then the MP will be out and if the mini isn't out with it. it'll be a long wait after that anyways so ..
Make sure you can return a BTO machine.
i don't see why i would not be able to. given that other BTO specked mini's are in the refurb store
but that's a good point never the less. i'll check and report back on monday.
Cheers,
If you think about it, a Haswell Mini now with Iris Pro, would be snapped up at the assumed price point of $599. With the availability of good monitors at relatively low prices it would absolutely kill iMac sales and would probably put a dent in the laptop range too.
... What I'm talking about is the high version of the MacMini that will have more than enough graphics power to handle running one or two 4k displays. That's the big gaping hole in the Mac line the prosumer MacMini has to fill.
Haswell can support 4k displays with no problem. I think even the HD4000 can support can as well.That's been filled. It is called the NEW MacPro, and it is $2999 instead of $999.
4K isn't for mini users. Minis are for document creators and basic graphics creators or audio pros (nowadays). If you want to do 4K, which is high-end tech, get a MacPro.
The Mini won't be powerful enough for decent 4K video until maybe 2016.
That's been filled. It is called the NEW MacPro, and it is $2999 instead of $999.
4K isn't for mini users. Minis are for document creators and basic graphics creators or audio pros (nowadays). If you want to do 4K, which is high-end tech, get a MacPro.
The Mini won't be powerful enough for decent 4K video until maybe 2016.
That's been filled. It is called the NEW MacPro, and it is $2999 instead of $999.
4K isn't for mini users. Minis are for document creators and basic graphics creators or audio pros (nowadays). If you want to do 4K, which is high-end tech, get a MacPro.
The Mini won't be powerful enough for decent 4K video until maybe 2016.
A prosumer MacMini user wants at least one 4k display, so it has to have TB2 and options for higher graphic processing.
The average person doesn't need a $1000 Über-Mini.
The i5-4250U used in the MBA is capable of driving 4k video, and perfect for everyday tasks.
http://www.geek.com/chips/intels-haswell-nuc-does-4k-video-in-a-4-inch-box-1570688/
The likelihood of Apple using a 1.3 GHz processor in the next mini seems very low, IMHO. The mini has never been a headless MacBook Air and I don't see it becoming one.
And yet, that's what the current Mac mini is: basically a headless MacBook Air 2012 with a faster CPU clock rate (2.5GHz i5 versus the 1.7GHz i5 in last year's notebook).
Same 3MB secondary cache, same Intel HD Graphics 4000, same 1600MHz DDR3 memory.
The likelihood of the next Mac mini being based on the MacBook Air is very high, although it may not be based on the entry-level Air model. I still think a dual-core i7 (with a faster clock, HD 5000 graphics) would be the base Mac mini, a quad-core i7 model (maybe with Iris Pro 5200 graphics) would be the premium Mac mini model.
It wouldn't have the same clock rate since the machine gets wall power, but it would be based on the same Haswell architecture.